want to spray frontlip, skirts and rear. Opinions!?

[Timvgti]

Hi Guys,

I want to spray the lower front lip, the sideskirts and the lower part of the rear bumper (I have a stock GTI, so al these parts are black plastics), to match my United Gray color.
(Looking for a good paint shop over here, in The Netherlands)

I need your opinions on this:

Should I spray the whole lower part/valance or keep the lowest part (diffuser part?!) black, like in the picture below?
(not a great overview picture, but it's the only one I found with the rear painted like that)
Do you guys have pictures from a UG GTI with painted front lip, skirts and rear?
How would a painted stock gti front lip look?

Is it easy to disassemble the mentioned parts to bring them to a paint shop?


Tim

 

[Timvgti]

Nobody painted his o.e.m. valance?

 

[Thurbo]

I did, it costs vary, I got quoted 100 per side skirt here. The rear cost me 120.00

 

[gti_mk5]

yeah thats the best to do on the valence and hey if you find the color code for the Ug lmk because im confused on it and trying to find a place online that sells it

 

[xola3que]

I assume you will de-texturized the valance, skirts and lip before paint. Paint over the texture will come out looking like crap...like mine

Personally I wouldn't paint the center rear defuser. It just looks totally overdone. The front lip and side skirts are fine though. Give the car a nice lower look that lack of with the OEM black.

All parts are PITA to take off. You have to remove the entire front and rear bumper to get the parts out. The side skirts need a steady hand or you will rip the mounting tracks then you will see how shitty it'll look when you remount.

 

[g_berserk]

I removed mine with no problems.
You don't need to take out either bumper to remove the front lip or rear valence... but you need to take out the upper section of the rear bumper to mount everything back.

Hardest part is the side skirts because they are held with double-sided mounting tape and a big blob of glue on the tip of the "fin". My best advice is to let the car toast in the sun for a couple hours before attempting to remove them so it will come out as clean as possible. and of course first remove the screws, IIRC there are 3 on the bottom and 1 on each wheel arch.

the front lip is held by a hundred screws in 3-4 varieties, so I suggest you keep them in zip bags and write where you took them from.

The rear valence is held by about 6-8 screws, on the bottom and the wheel arches. some people take out the rear wheels to acces those screws, but a ratch and torx tips can do the job just fine.


about the paint, there are 2 options:
a) smooth the piece and the prime and paint
b) put a couple o big thick layers of primer, smooth, prime again, and smooth. repeat with the paint and clear.

I find first option less time consuming, but have seen both in person and if done correctly the difference is neglectable (I have one of my side skirts smoothed and painted, but after a crash the dealer used the B option to paint the other that was damaged. Unless you know where to look, you can't tell the difference)


Leave the center-lower section of the rear textured, looks really good that way.
Front lip looks nice painted, specially if you have an euro lip and leave that part textured too.

 

[Timvgti]

I want to spend around max. €400,- / $ 550,- to spray my rear bumper skirts and if also possible, my front lip this month.

But if it isn't possible for this price, maybe I only want to spray the rear bumper (with the center-lower section not painted).
How would you guys think this will look? (So with black textured lip, skirts and center-lower rear bumper section).

What would look best!?!
(UG pictures?)

 

[g_berserk]

I want to spend around max. €400,- / $ 550,- to spray my rear bumper skirts and if also possible, my front lip this month.

But if it isn't possible for this price, maybe I only want to spray the rear bumper (with the center-lower section not painted).
How would you guys think this will look? (So with black textured lip, skirts and center-lower rear bumper section).

What would look best!?!
(UG pictures?)

IMHO, do everything or nothing.
some people like to only colormatch the top section of the rear bumper, but to me it looks awful.

Here's a pic of my car when I decided to plastidip my already colormatched bumper, sideskirts and front lip (I know, I know)... I ran out of plastidip before doing the rear bumper.

Please mind the green wheels it was vinyl and did that only for the lulz on the Autox season.

 

[Kirsche_Kreuzer]

Yes, leave the lower part of the bumper non-painted, and no, don't only paint one part and not the rest. As stated ^, all or nothing is gonna be the best look. You want it to look like a uniform scheme not like this is all I felt like doing right now. Its like when the little kids in their civics can only afford the one bumper of a body kit but not the side skirts, etc and it looks really bad & mismatched. This isn't that drastic, but you get the point.
And one more hint, if you try to find a bargain paint job make sure you know the guy doing it won't half ass it. The painted-but-still-textured look won't be so hot.
And that green is sexy

 

[Timvgti]

Thanks guys,

If I do it, I will paint rear (except the lower part), skirts and front lip.
Still looking for a good bodyshop (€€€)
Also heard that it is better to buy edition30 rear, skirts and lip, because they are already in the primer.

But why can't I (I mean the bodyshop) just paint my stock gti parts (first sand and primer it to remove the texture)?
I never used products to let the black plastic textured parts 'shine' like Valma plastishine...

 

[g_berserk]

Thanks guys,

If I do it, I will paint rear (except the lower part), skirts and front lip.
Still looking for a good bodyshop (€€€)
Also heard that it is better to buy edition30 rear, skirts and lip, because they are already in the primer.

But why can't I (I mean the bodyshop) just paint my stock gti parts (first sand and primer it to remove the texture)?
I never used products to let the black plastic textured parts 'shine' like Valma plastishine...

Some body shops won't warranty a paint job on textured parts even if they sand them down to smooth, mostly because of the type of plastic and paint needing a different procedure to make it stick for good.

The truth is that it can be done, you just need to use the correct adhesion promoter and know what you're doing, some have even been able to do it using rattlecans and the end results is almost as good as a professional work.

This thread has lots of good information
http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45104

 

[Timvgti]

Last week I went to a good bodyshop in my town.
They told me that they could do all the mentioned parts with warranty.
So disassemble all 4 parts (rearbumper, sideskirts and front lip), sanding, painting, assemble parts again, etc, etc.
The price? -> 800,- euro's / 1180,- US Dollars

Thought this would be a lot cheaper....
Also I saw another GTI (candywhite) last week, that only painted the rear bumper (leaving the lowest part black, so the same as I want).
Because the lowest part was still black/plastics, it matched the standard sideskirts and front lip. Looked good and would cost me a lot less (only need to paint the rear)...
Hmmzzzz what to do?
Any pics of United Grey GTI's with above?

 

[Kiser10]

Thats a ridiculous price! At least, compared to around here!

 

[Timvgti]

Thats a ridiculous price! At least, compared to around here!

I know...
Is it still a ridiculous price for European (The Netherlands) paintshops???